Chancellor vows to freeze rail fares – but has she broken the ministerial code?

Rachel Reeves tonight launched a last-ditch bid to get her beleaguered budget back on track by announcing a ‘historic’ freeze on rail fares.

The Chancellor tried to appeal to passengers by announcing that he had chosen to keep train ticket prices constant ‘for the first time in 30 years’.

Labor boasted that the move, which would apply to season tickets and other ‘regulated’ fares across England, would save rail passengers £600 million in 2026/27.

But the announcement, made just days before Ms Reeves’s Commons Budget speech, reignited claims that she disregarded the parliamentary session by pre-briefing key parts of her financial statement.

And tonight the Conservatives even suggested the Chancellor might have broken the sacred ministerial code if the Treasury was aware of leaks about later abandoned plans to raise income tax rates.

The law states that ‘While Parliament is in session, the most important announcements regarding government policy should in the first instance be made in Parliament’.

Last week the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, expressed anger at the size of the pre-Budget briefing, saying ‘a minister could resign in a heartbeat’.

Ms Reeves is due to make her financial statement on Wednesday amid reports that the economy is stagnating, borrowing is worse than feared and shoppers are staying away from the high street.

The Chancellor’s move will apply to season tickets and other ‘regulated’ fares across England and is expected to save rail passengers £600 million in 2026/27 (file image)

Adding to their pain were claims tonight that 5 million people were on welfare without having to work; this number was one million more than previously thought.

Analysis by the Center for Social Justice said there are another million people claiming ’employment and support allowance’ alongside the 4 million on Universal Credit.

After a messy U-turn on plans to raise income tax, Ms Reeves is expected to announce a ‘buffet’ of tax increases to plug a multi-billion pound gap in the public finances.

Speaking at the G20 summit in South Africa, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he wanted the Budget to focus on ‘growth’ and ‘stability’, adding that the Government wanted to reduce the ‘cost of living’.

Ms Reeves said ‘this is why we chose to freeze rail fares for the first time in 30 years’, claiming it would ‘relieve the pressure on household finances’.

Treasury sources said a typical passenger using the train three days a week with a flexible season ticket would save £315 a year traveling from Milton Keynes to London and £173 a year from Woking.

But tonight Conservative Party transport spokesman Richard Holden said: ‘It is welcome that Labor has finally frozen rail fares, under constant pressure from the Conservative Party. But once again the Government is late to the platform.’

Last week Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride asked Treasury permanent secretary James Bowler whether there was an investigation into pre-Budget ‘leaks’.

And today he told The Mail on Sunday: ‘If the Chancellor had known these leaks were happening, or worse, allowed them, it would have amounted to a serious breach of ministerial rules.’

Ms Reeves fought back, telling The Times she was ‘tired of people explaining to me how to be Chancellor’.